Arts and Cultural Enrichment Weeks
Week-long breaks (one in October and one in February) when students can participate in a variety of on-campus, arts-focused activities.
French International operates on an academic calendar that is broken up by five 7- to 8-week periods with breaks for Winter Break, Spring Break, and Arts and Cultural Enrichment Weeks. School is not in session during Arts and Cultural Enrichment Weeks, and an alternate program is provided for students who wish to participate.
2022-23 Program Dates
- October 24 – 28
- February 20 – 24
ACE Week: February 20-24
We are excited to announce our Spring Arts and Cultural Enrichment (ACE) week; our theme is Expression! Our goal is to provide a week of enthusiasm, creativity, and engaging learning for our students. The program is distributed as follows by grade levels:
- TPS: All About Spring
- PS - PK: Storytelling through Theater Arts
- K - 1st: Expression of Storytelling or Dance
- 4th-8th: Expression in Coding
TPS: TPS will inquire into expression through the changing of the seasons! Activities will be centered around expression through arts and crafts with a focus on learning about and using materials we can find in nature during the shifting season. Our goal is to provide a learning experience that enhances the IB Learner Profile attributes of risk-taking by exploring the environment around them as the seasons change, communicating through self-expression, and fostering caring as they explore their creations.
PS-PK: Explore expression with Storytelling through Theater Arts. ACE Week instructors will guide students' exploration of various forms of storytelling with an emphasis on performance and theater arts. Students will get the opportunity to tell and perform stories. This is also a great opportunity to apply many of the communication skills they are practicing in the Primary Years Program’s Approaches to Learning while having fun telling stories and acting them out.
K-1st: Learn about one of two forms of expression. One option is Storytelling where students investigate different forms and aspects of storytelling and create their own stories. Here, they will engage their communication skills while reading, writing, and presenting their stories as well as listening to the stories of others.
Their other option is improvisation/freestyle Dance. Students will be able to engage in expression and creativity through dance and movement. At the end, students will create a collaborative routine. The goal is to give them enough foundation or to amplify their existing skills while leading them to truly express themselves and develop gross-motor skills
2nd-3rd: Engage in creativity by discovering different elements of storytelling while partnering with other ACE Week groups to design sets for their productions. Students in this ACE Week program will be exposed to environmental storytelling and learn how to express elements of their stories through the setting.
4th-8th: Discovering coding as digital creative expression. Students will be working with ACE Week instructors to learn the basics of coding through Scratch, a coding tool for children that was developed by MIT. With scratch, students can express themselves by creating their own stories, games, and animations. During this class, students are also able to engage in the IB MYP Design process and be exposed to the Middle School setting.